In Memoriam
by LadyKnightSkye
Summary: A being made of metal and memories speaks in her last moments, sharing her own memories with the world.


Edit/Update: Fixed a few technical details and tweaked the ending so that one of the most important characters is actually _there_. *headStarbuckscounter* Many thanks to knightphoenix2 for pointing that out!

* * *

_I remember. _

_ Memories are all that I am, memories are all that made me. Memories of summer days and mothers' love and death. Memories of two blond boys with stars in their eyes and war in their hearts, and memories of a broken little girl holding a red shoe. Memories of my great metal hands wrapped around a kaiju's throat, memories of my own dismemberment._

_ Twice. _

_ And last, memories of my destruction. _

_ I go to my death happy, if any of my makers ask me. Happy that I am finally accomplishing my purpose: the salvation of the human race. From the moment my own consciousness sparked and grew in the Drift, born of the memories, I knew my purpose, I knew my deeds, and I knew my pilots. I am the ghost in the machine, the soul created when humans commune with one another and a behemoth made to do battle with leviathans. _

_ I am Yancy and Raleigh and Mako. _

_ I am Gipsy Danger._

* * *

The ocean was calm, but the water became choppy as the helicopters approached Raleigh and Mako. They sat quietly, Raleigh staring at the sea while Mako stared at him. She saw his face flicker, a sudden flash of confusion and doubt. "What's wrong?"

He shook his head. "Right before I left Gipsy, I thought . . . I thought I heard someone talk to me."

Mako stiffened a bit. "What did they say?"

"It was a woman's voice. She told me she loved me. She called me her 'golden boy.'" He glanced at her. "My mom used to call me that. Maybe I was hallucinating or something," he said dismissively.

She sat up and shook her head vigorously. "Raleigh, I heard a woman too. She called me her 'steel blue girl' right before you launched me. No one has ever called me that." She bit her lip and looked up at him from under her lashes. "I think it was Gipsy."

Raleigh thought about the superstition held by many Jaeger pilots. Some swore up and down that each Jaeger had a soul. He had never really believed it, but he thought back to the most painful night of his life and then to just a couple of hours earlier. He could have _sworn_ that he had not been alone either time.

* * *

_I remember the first time my soul, for want of a better word, came into being. It was only the fourth time that Raleigh and Yancy had Drifted within me. I could trace their thought patterns; I could see all their childhood memories. I watched them playing with their sister, their joy so beautiful. _

_ I wanted that joy. I wanted that joy so badly. _

_ And then I witnessed their most recent memories. I had neither eyes nor the tears to weep, but my soul did. I was a creation of humanity, all you humans my parents. My soul wept at seeing the news footage secondhand: bodies in the streets, craters where city centers used to be, destruction all around. _

_I saw how you saw me as well. I am not your child, but your savior, me and all of my kind. It was then that I knew that I would always stand between humanity and the kaiju that threatened you. I had only existed for a blink of an eye, but I loved you. I loved all of you. _

_But most of all, I loved Yancy and Raleigh. My two golden boys, to use their mother's endearment. As they moved our bodies in glorious sync, I was with them in the Drift, curled around them. I stopped absorbing information, deciding that I needed to know what they knew. I paid attention to their training in me. I studied my body through their eyes and senses, learning myself. I was a giant compared to them, but they didn't fear me. I was their beautiful lady._

_They were my golden boys and I was their beautiful lady. _

_I found that joy._

* * *

_ I remember our first kill. _

_ Yamarashi. _

_ The battle was long and hard. Originally, me and my golden boys were backup for our partner, Romeo Blue. Blue had been in service much longer being a Mark I to my Mark III. We were scrambled from the Las Angeles Shatterdome as quickly as possible, but the early warning system was still in its infancy._

_By the time me, Blue, and our pilots had been scrambled, Yamarashi had already destroyed the RMS _Queen Mary_ and traveled up the coast from Long Beach, smashing through the Queensway Bridge, and then making its way to Terminal Island. Romeo Blue tried to hit it with his missiles, but that only seemed to piss it off. _

"_Gipsy, this is Romeo," their pilots called to mine, "Time to test your fancy Mark III."_

_:Gipsy Danger this is Romeo Blue.: the other Jaeger called out through the Drift, :Destroy the bastard for me.:_

_I laughed where only the two of us could hear. :Will do Romeo Blue, will do.:_

_Me and my golden boys headed into battle. Through the port we forced Yamarashi, down towards the freeway. I saw it the moment the boys decided on the crane wire. It started in Raleigh's head – like most of the asymmetrical, out-of-leftfield ideas do – but Yancy was all for the plan. We grabbed it, we grabbed Yamarashi, and then we decapitated the sucker. _

_Victory was sweet._

* * *

_ You humans think of the Drift as simply a melding of minds, when in reality it _is_ its own reality. I existed in it with the rest of the Jaegers. I met all that were functional during my lifetime: Romeo Blue, Coyote Tango, Tacit Ronin, Crimson Typhoon, Cherno Alpha, Striker Eureka, Brawler Yukon, and all the others._

_ To those of us who lived in the Drift, given life by memories and thought, Brawler Yukon was the closest thing we had to an actual parent. The first functional Jaeger, and the first to strike back at the kaiju, Brawler was a boisterous bruiser with a soft heart. _

_In the Inbetween, when we were unneeded, we Jaegers would congregate together, traveling along the electronic signals that connected everything in the Shatterdomes. The Jaegers are the closest things to physical bodies we have, and I know that sometimes we would accidentally twitch when we were supposed to be shut down, causing the humans to catch on that we were more than just robots. Most of them kept these suspicions to themselves, or labeled them mere fantasy, but none ever truly realized the extent of the truth. We never let them, content to be the ghosts in the machines, silent guardians. As it was, we could do nothing more than gentle twitches without our pilots to help us. _

_But we would gather in the Inbetween, and we would trade stories. Memories are our currency, and we would share the memories we liked. We shared happy days with family, roaring laughter with friends, tender nights with lovers. We did not consider ourselves voyeurs since these were memories that were parts of our very beings. Through it all, Brawler Yukon would oversee us, congratulating us on kills, commiserating when pilots were hurt. He shared the sadness with Coyote Tango when it was revealed that Coyote's beloved pilots had both been diagnosed with radiation poisoning. Coyote's darling Tamsin was felled by cancer, and his dear Stacker was forbidden from piloting another due to radiation sickness. To enter another Jaeger would effectively end Stacker's life. _

_I knew Pentecost from both sides: Tango's stories and my golden boys' thoughts on their boss. He was a hardass with a heart of pure gold to me. When I learned that he had adopted the Tokyo Survivor I wished I could have hugged that man. And much later, when that same Survivor became so important to me, I wished I could have even harder._

* * *

_ I remember my first death. _

_ It was late, a stormy night in Alaska, and I remember my golden boys' pleasure. Raleigh had always been the adorable one to me, so much like a puppy that I always smiled at him when he entered my Conn-Pod. Yancy was the cool one, always more relaxed and ready to follow the rules and their orders. _

_ Though, neither of my golden boys was particularly good at either. _

_ The reason that these two were so good at their job I always attributed to the fact that they were brothers. And not just brothers, but brothers only three years apart. They had brawled with each other from the time Raleigh was able to walk – deep memories from the time that Yancy was four revealed that one of the first punishments Raleigh received was for biting his brother – and both were unpredictable fighters at best. Neither ascribed to any one particular fighting style even amongst warriors who learned as many different martial arts as they could in order to counter the kaiju. _

_ The three of us moved out that night, confident in our ability to protect Anchorage. We all heard Pentecost's order, but we all agreed that any life was sacred – including the lives of a few men on a smallish fishing vessel. We headed that way, and our efforts paid off, because who would we happen upon but our kaiju friend. _

_ Knifehead. _

_ May he rot in hell._

_ The fight went our way at first, Knifehead taking a couple of blasts before falling into the ocean. My golden boys reported success, but I can still remember Pentecost's frantic command to grab the fishing vessel and run, because the kaiju was down but not out. _

_ The damned thing's first lunge took my arm. I screamed in unison with Raleigh, a scream of pain and rage. I couldn't believe the bastard had done that, and neither could Raleigh. It was the same arm that had shot him, and I realized in a flash that the kaiju had _learned_. It had learned that appendage was dangerous! I screamed at my golden boys, but they couldn't hear me. _

_ Then Knifehead took Yancy. I felt him die. I felt my golden Yancy die, I felt my beloved Raleigh's scream as he felt it too. _

_ Rage filled my very frame. My rage, and my golden Raleigh's rage. He switched the command control to his right hand, and I felt the snap of someone controlling my arm. My own rage caused me to fill the gap where Yancy should have been. _

_ Humans cannot control the gigantic robots that are Jaegers solo. Your minds were never meant to do so. The two pilot system helps by exponentially doubling your processing power, and unbeknownst to you, by creating an artificial construct within the machine. On your own, you can move us using the two pilot system, but by having us ghosts within the Jaeger helps. But, it is rare for us to actually be able to stand in for an unconscious pilot. The humans revere Raleigh and Pentecost for being able to pilot us solo, but Jaegers look upon Coyote Tango and me with respect because we were able to lighten the load. In essence, _we moved ourselves. _We moved ourselves when that is equally as impossible as one pilot driving a Jaeger. _

_ But I guess when two impossibilities meet, paradox occurs and the impossible becomes possible. _

_ Raleigh and I blasted the hell out of Knifehead, and both of us grinned in feral satisfaction when the bastard finally fell. But we had lost Yancy, golden Yancy. And in his stupor, Raleigh started moving towards the shore, but instead of the Shatterdome, he headed towards a different part of the coast far from it. For seven hours we limped along, until finally we reached the coast. Both of us were mentally exhausted, me from attempting to stay with Raleigh, even though my systems were fried, and poor Raleigh because I couldn't keep the full load from him. It was sheer determination that allowed us to make it._

_ And then neither of us could stay up. Anchorage was safe, Knifehead was dead, we were to shore, humans were nearby that could alert the Shatterdome to help us, and we had nothing left. I fell, Raleigh fell, and the end of an era fell with us._

* * *

_ I remember the first time I met Mako Mori. _

_ For four years I had lain in Oblivion Bay, unable to move, only marginally able to connect with the others in the Inbetween, but I had to watch my friends die. One by one they fell. Coyote Tango. Romeo Blue. Brawler Yukon. Eden Assassin. My friends, my family. _

_ Gone. _

_ What was worse was that humanity was losing faith in us. Their lives were in permanent danger, and we couldn't stem the rising tide. The humans were in danger of drowning beneath the kaiju, dammit, and we could do _nothing_. I was the only Jaeger in Oblivion Bay that still marginally lived. Knifehead had catastrophically destroyed my body, but most of my processing power was still intact. Plus, my Raleigh was still alive. Unlike the others who let go of existence when their precious pilots died, I still had one alive, and I would not leave him. As often as I could, I surfed the wireless signals that crisscrossed the world so that I could check on him. I followed him up the Alaskan coast as he built the Wall of Life. I ached at his pain, and wished that I could be with him._

_ And then, one day, I realized that my body was moving. _

_ I was airlifted to a new Shatterdome, one I vaguely recognized as the Hong Kong station. I was placed in an empty hanger, and watched over the months as my body was overhauled and repaired. All of my systems were updated except for my drive train – instead of becoming a digital system, they kept my analog one, meaning that instead of the Conn-Pod being connected to my body through an internal wireless system, my pilots moved me using a series of physical gears. It was called "analog" retroactively, and was originally meant as a way to keep the Jaegers from becoming immobile should either the nuclear option be used or should our own reactors experience problems. In the newer Jaegers who had more streamlined reactors and who would not face a nuke, digital systems became possible._

_ As I reached out in the Inbetween on that first day, I felt a ping. :Crimson Typhoon!: I cried in happiness. _

_ :It is good to see you Gipsy Danger,: he replied. :I have missed having someone to talk to Inbetween.:_

_ :As have I,: I replied. :I was the only Jaeger still alive in Oblivion Bay. All the rest had followed their pilots into slumber.:_

_ His avatar's face – a picture of one of the triplets who piloted him – frowned. :Even Coyote Tango? Stacker Pentecost still lives.:_

_ :But Pentecost may never enter a Jaeger again,: I pointed out. :I know Coyote would have preferred his death to the death of his Stacker.:_

_ Crimson nodded in understanding. :I'm sorry about your Yancy. I wish the death of a pilot on no one.:_

_ :Thank you, old friend.: _

_ It was during this time that I meet Mako. I liked her immediately because she was the kind of human woman I thought I would be. She talked to me any time she was alone, which was often. She told me the reason why she hoped I would be all that I used to be, how her family died. She told me about her love for her adopted father, and I fondly remembered Coyote Tango. Sometimes we used pictures of our pilots to represent us, though I generally used a scan of the picture of a beautiful woman they'd had painted on my chest in the manner of World War II bombers. Tango had used a picture of Pentecost dressed in his command suit. _

_ It was Mako who gleefully told me that Pentecost was going to try to get Raleigh to pilot me. It was Mako who told me about each candidate she had chosen as Raleigh's new partner. _

_ But it was Mako who I wanted to be that new pilot._

* * *

_ I remember the day I finally saw Raleigh again while in my own body. His face was full of pleasure as he looked upon me while standing next to Mako. I could have wept upon seeing my golden boy again. I knew I had to wait several more hours to feel him again, but I simply couldn't wait. _

_ I had decided once in the Inbetween that I could have happily married Raleigh if I had been a normal woman. He was so sweet and boyish. But that had been before that fateful night off the coast of Alaska, and as he walked away I wondered if that was still true. I decided that I no longer wanted a boy with laughing eyes and a laughing heart. But Raleigh was no longer that easily excitable boy. I had watched him become level and quiet, less inclined to be aggressive. I realized that I still wanted Raleigh, but now I wanted the even-tempered man he'd become. _

_ But I would never be able to love him as a human, so those thoughts were merely fantasy to ease my loneliness._

* * *

_ I remember Mako and Raleigh's first Drift._

_ I was nearly paralyzed by the influx of memories as I felt myself change again. Those who'd had pilot changes knew what this was like. Introducing a new mind into the Drift within a Jaeger modified the Jaeger's personality, adding a new dimension. Mako introduced not something new, but something that I had lost. Aggressive drive. Raleigh used to be the aggressive one, the one who wanted action, but now that fell to Mako. Instead, my golden Raleigh was now what Yancy used to be: the voice of calm. _

_ I decided that I needed to give a nickname to my dear Mako. She had always been dear, but now she was my pilot. She was not golden, but blue. The first thing that came to mind was steel blue. My golden Raleigh and my steel blue Mako. It fit._

_ I felt them go out of sync, and I walked Mako's memories. I watched the battle of Onibaba and Coyote Tango, and I watched her first sight of her beloved mentor. In that moment I loved Coyote Tango more than he could ever know. He had saved my new pilot, my steel blue Mako._

* * *

_ I remember our first battle together._

_ Crimson Typhoon and Cherno Alpha called out to me in the Inbetween, wishing me well as they followed their pilots into death. I raged, angry that we would be left out of this battle, and I was in terror that Striker Eureka would be next. _

_ I did not care much for Striker. He had too much of Chuck Hansen's unbearable cockiness and jerkass-ish tendencies to truly get along with. He hung out with Crimson and I stayed with Cherno. I rather liked Cherno Alpha. He was always happy to tell me stories about his pilots who were happily married. We all liked to hear about their happy memories together. Cherno told us about how the two would silently tease one another in the Drift where their handlers couldn't hear. And how they would call each other Sasha in order to confuse those unfamiliar with them. I liked the Kaidonovskys. _

_ I raged to hear of their death when I could have helped them. _

_ Finally, we were up. I felt Mako's eagerness in the Drift, felt Raleigh's small twinge of fear. But we went forward, and were able to save Striker Eureka and his pilots from a very ill-advised idea on his pilot's part, though one must give them credit. Shooting out a kaiju's eye with a flare gun while standing right in front of it outside of your Jaeger is a ballsy move. _

_ Leatherback was tough, but in the end we prevailed. Mako and Raleigh's ability to use anything as a weapon helped, as well as the fact that they were determined to win. Leatherback had stood not a chance. _

_ :Thanks,: Striker acknowledged. _

_ :You're welcome,: I replied as Raleigh and Mako searched for a weapon to use against Otachi. :What were your pilots thinking?!":_

_ Striker's avatar – a younger Herc Hansen – shrugged. :What can I say? They're male and Australian.:_

_ I pinched the bridge of my avatar's nose. :Why did I even ask? It actually sounds like something my golden boys would have done back in the day.:_

_ Strike gave me a smile. :That's the first time you've spoken of Yancy since . . .well, since.:_

_ I looked back at Striker and reevaluated my opinion of him. Yes, he was a jerk, but I remembered some of his stories. Herc and Chuck had a complicated, acrimonious relationship, so that made his own ability to empathize a little screwy, but he was trying to comfort me. I returned his smile, big and bright, and I was delighted with his blush. _

_ But by then my golden boy and steel blue girl had chosen a freighter as their weapon of choice, and had to return to the battle. I left Striker with his pilots, and focused on finding that kaiju bastard that had killed Crimson Typhoon and his triplet pilots. She was terrorizing the Bone Slums, and it felt wonderful to slap the shit outta the kaiju bitch with the boat. We fought hard, but my quick thinking pilots and I managed to get the upper hand. Mako instinctively let Raleigh lead in the Drift, but it was not out of docility, but rather a willingness to learn. Raleigh had done this before, she had not. _

_ Raleigh used my coolant to freeze Otachi's prehensile tail and ripped out her acid sack, but before we could really press our advantage Otachi gave us one last surprise. We had never come across a flying kaiju before, but up into the air we went. Raleigh knew a moment of panic because he thought us out of options. Being in each other's head didn't necessarily mean that one knew the other pilot completely. It seemed that Mako had forgotten to inform him of the upgrade she'd given me in honor of her father. _

_ I felt Raleigh's spurt of juvenile pleasure at getting to use a sword. It seems that boys tend to like those. _

_ Otachi ended up in two pieces, and we ended up hurtling towards the Earth. My AI system inanely pointed out our lack of balance as we quickly created a plan of attack. The impact shook me to the very struts, and I felt a moment of paralyzing pain. But neither of my pilots had suffered serious injury and my damage was easily fixed. _

_ In the end, Hong Kong had been successfully defended and human causalities were few, but those few included Crimson Typhoon's agile triplets and Cherno Alpha's devoted couple as well as the two Jaegers. _

_ Victory was bittersweet._

* * *

_ That night, as our bodies were being repaired, Striker Eureka and I sat together in the Inbetween. We knew that in the morning we would go out into the depths of the Pacific Ocean and assault the Breach in a last ditch effort to defend our beloved humanity. Striker's Herc was injured, but he knew that Pentecost would figure something out. I had the sneaking suspicion that Pentecost might decide that this was not to be just humanity's last stand, but his as well. _

_ :Do you think it will work?: Striker asked, his strange Australian accent washing over me. :It hasn't before.:_

_ I looked over at him. We had created a garden that Striker remembered from Herc's memories. It was full of roses, and we sat together on a small bench, only inches apart. He was leaning his elbows on his knees while I sat with my hands in my lap. I placed a hand on his shoulder, and he sat up. :We have to,: I answered. :You told me what Herc heard Gottlieb say. We have already had a double event. If we don't stop the kaiju now the human race is doomed. We cannot let them win.:_

_ Striker nodded, swallowing. He looked to me with sad eyes. :I remember how much Herc loved his wife,: he said. :I was always kind of jealous.: He reached for my hand on his shoulder, covering it with his own. :Thank you, Gipsy Danger. I now know what it feels like to have a woman I care for comfort me.: He gave me a lopsided grin that had to have utterly killed the ladies when Herc was a young man. _

_ :A woman you care for, hum? When little less than ten hours ago I was an old hag whose pilots were going to get everyone killed?: I returned with a cocked brow._

_ He had the grace to wince. :I was angry. You and your pilots could have hurt everyone and ruined the op.:_

_ I reached over and thumped his forehead. :I'm not going to argue with you there. But where does the caring come in?:_

_ He chuckled ruefully. :I've always kind of liked you Gipsy. But last night, when I watched you whale on Leatherback and Otachi, I think I fell a little bit in love.: He snorted. :I was glad you were on my side, glad you were back.:_

_ I took back my hand on his shoulder, and leaned over. I hugged him. We did not feel the hug ourselves, but instead called up the echo of memories from our pilots. In our hug were the hugs of Mako and her father, Raleigh and Yancy, Chuck and Herc back when Chuck was a kid, but all the same it was comforting. :I care for you too Striker,: I said. :You are my friend, my brother.: I touched his cheek. :And if we survive, I will consider lover after we've been together a bit longer.:_

_ :Are you bribing me to survive?: he joked._

_ :Yes,: I answered._

_ We both laughed a bit, and spent the rest of the night in the Inbetween sitting together in Granny Hansen's rose garden. The last of the Jaegers enjoying our last hours._

* * *

_ I remember my second, final, death._

_ We walked along the bottom of the sea, Striker and I. I was right, Pentecost had decided that this would be his final day upon the Earth, but I will always remember his speech. He said it before all of the Shatterdome, including us Jaegers. _

_ Canceling the apocalypse indeed. _

_ I remember Gottlieb and Newt's impassioned call. The Breach had a key, and that key was kaiju flesh. Striker and I were sure that we could obtain some of that. We currently had two circling us. _

_ Raiju was the first to attack, taking my damn arm _again_. And again it was the arm that Raleigh was using. My poor golden boy doesn't have much luck there does he? But then Scunner appeared, taking my leg. I screamed in pain, rage, and denial. I had to fight! I had to make sure that Striker could get into the Breach._

_ And then things got worse. _

_ From the depths of whatever hell was connected to the Breach came Slattern. A category V kraken-like creature loomed over Striker. He and his pilots fought as valiantly as mine, but in the end we both were catastrophically damaged with only one of the three taken out. Inertia is a cruel mistress, Raiju found out the hard way. _

_ :Gipsy,: Striker called to me as Pentecost told my pilots to stay back. :Pentecost is going to blow the nuke. We're sacrificing ourselves to give you a shot. He wants Raleigh and Mako to use you as a huge bomb.:_

_ I stopped for a moment as Pentecost relayed that to my golden boy and steel blue girl. I loved them, and almost couldn't imagine them killing me. Then, I put that aside. :If my death will save this world, it is a small price to pay.:_

_ Striker's smile across the Inbetween was bright. :That's what I thought too. I'm glad I can do this. Love you, sister soldier. See you on the other side.:_

_ At the same moment, Mako told Pentecost she loved him. _

_ And then Striker, Pentecost, and Chuck were gone. _

_ After the water had rushed back into the bubble created by the shockwave, we limped along. My systems were failing, but I had a sliver of Raiju to use as a passkey into the Breach. _

_ And then that bitch Slattern showed back up. _

_ We barely thought. We leapt, stabbing the dorsal fin-like crest on Slattern's back, using it as an anchor. The kaiju fought back, frantically trying to dislodge us. Raleigh used my chest turbine to fire the exhaust from my reactor into Slattern's torso, killing it. We drifted into the Breach. _

_ The Breach was a riot of purples and blues, but I watched Raleigh as he gave his oxygen to Mako, making sure she got out first. Before her pod left, I whispered my good bye. _

_ But system damage meant that he had to arm the reactor himself. I tried to hold my body steady like I did so long ago against Knifehead, but this time I could not. My systems were too damaged. _

_ But finally Raleigh was readying himself for evac, right as we entered into the other world. It was strange with an alien sun. I saw the conveyor belt formations that held thousands of kaiju – thousands of Slatterns – and realized that we were just in time. Before he leaves, I will transmit all of this to his pod, to be forwarded to the Shatterdome. I have decided that I want all of you to know about us, us ghosts in the machines. _

_ Mako, Raleigh, my golden boy and my steel blue girl, I love you. I love you as a sister, as a mother, as only an ephemeral Jaeger could. I love you. And Mako? Stacker Pentecost is right. He will always be with you in the Drift, as will I._

_ Remember me._

* * *

Their reception at the Shatterdome was staggering. Mako and Raleigh were heroes, and even the tragedy of the deaths that surrounded them could not lessen the joy of everyone around them. But neither would have wanted it any other way. Celebration was needed after so many dark years.

The first inkling of trouble was Tendo. He rushed up to them on the pad and all but screamed, "Raleigh!"

His panicked face caused the entire pad to go quiet. "Tendo, what's wrong?" the pilot asked with a serious face. "Is it the Breach?"

Tendo's pale face blurred as he shook his head. "No, it's a signal we received from your pod right after you landed."

Raleigh glanced over at the pods that had been strapped to the chassis of another helicopter. "What is it?"

Choi merely handed him a tablet. "It's for you. Says your eyes only."

Raleigh took it, and used the sensitive equipment to read his thumbprint. He gasped a bit, but his fellow humans stayed quiet, waiting. Finally he looked up, tears in his eyes. "Oh my God, oh my God."

Mako grabbed his bicep. "What is it Raleigh?"

"The voice we heard," he answered. "You were right. It was Gipsy. She spoke."

This announcement carried on the wind, causing all the PPDC personnel on the pad to look at each other with confusion. "What do you mean it was Gipsy?" Herc Hansen said, bringing all the murmuring to a halt.

In response, Raleigh asked, "Herc, did your grandmother have a rose garden with a small bench in it?"

"Yes. What does that have to do with anything?" the man answered.

Mako took the pad, and began to read it aloud, finally too excited to let Raleigh keep hold. "I remember," she began.

Her voice was steady for only a few sentences before she too was overcome with shock. Finally, it was Herc who took it, and read it to everyone. No one shouted protests that it had to be a sick joke, no one disbelieved, because after over a decade of fending off creatures that should only have existed in old American B-movies with giant robots out of Japanese anime had given all of them a rather open mind.

Herc finished, "Remember me." He blinked rapidly, tears in his eyes.

It was Dr. Gottlieb who spoke first. "Incredible. We built them, we played God, and look. We managed to create souls." He gestured to the tablet. "We should respect Gipsy Danger's last wishes then. We should remember all of them. We didn't even know they were there, but they defended us and loved us anyway."

He looked to Newt. "And you thought there wasn't a God."

Newt just shook his head, mouth still open from where it had fallen. "You know, I can't argue that right now. My mind is blown, and I've Drifted with kaiju brains." He stopped. "Wait, _does this mean I've created some kind of hybrid human-kaiju soul somewhere_?! That would be so cool!" Of course, his excitement waned when he realized that no one was giving him a favorable look.

Mako and Raleigh ignored him, Mako gently taking the tablet back from Herc. "That is what we'll do, Dr. Gottlieb. We will remember them."

Raleigh put a hand over hers, touching the tablet reverently. "Don't worry Gipsy," he murmured. "I will remember you. Always." He smiled wistfully. "Beautiful lady."

* * *

_ I love you, my golden boy. Raleigh. You and Yancy gave me life, and for that I will always love you._

_ I love you, my steel blue girl. Mako. You remade me, gave me another chance to fulfill my mission, and for that I will always love you._

_ Two seconds to detonation, and I see them. Striker Eureka is here, hand in my outstretched hand. So are Chuck and Pentecost, smiling at me in awe from a perch on Striker's shoulder. Crimson Typhoon and Cherno Alpha are here too, as are their pilots. And then I realize that there are more stretched around me, with me in my last instant. Coyote Tango, Eden Assassin, and Puma Real. Tacit Ronin, Romeo Blue, and Mammoth Apostle. Nova Hyperion, Matador Fury, and Brawler Yukon. All of the Jaegers and all of their fallen pilots. All are here to guide me to wherever I shall go after this last moment._

___Even my golden Yancy. He stands on my outstretched hand, and I am so glad. His smile is like the sun shining on me again, that lopsided Becket grin that I love as my own. He beckons me, and I know exactly what he is saying to me. When it is my turn to go to the other side, it will be with him beside me as I had always been beside him. Peace settles over me as the clock reaches zero._

_ And when the blast consumes me, my soul wings free._

_ Remember me. _


End file.
